It's simple: the 2nd amendment details two thoughts. The one we are most familiar with is the right to keep and bear arms part. Which is absolutely accurate. The other part pertains to a state militia. Here's one that will really make the libs scream: the National Guard does not qualify as a state militia. The National Guard is under the command of government officials. In the legal tradition of the Framers, this makes it a standing army. The defining characteristic of the militia is that it does not answer to any elected or appointed government official.
The passengers of United Flight 93 were a militia.
Thanks for your clear thoughts....the second part of the 2nd amendment...the militia....is us the citizens. Not the National Guard as you state. You are right...the libs will scream over that one.
Militias were under government control, but it was usually local control, not by the states or the federal government. However that changed with the passing of the Constitution, which provides that Congress, and thus the federal government, has the power "To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;" and "To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;"
It also provides that "The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States;"
Thus governments do control the militia, as a militia, when called up. BUT, the second amendment doesn't protect any right of the states, but as it says "the right of the people".
The so called justification phrase "A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free state" does not allow for restriction of the right protected by the main clause. Such explanations are common in state Constitutions, especially the early ones.
Accurate, and it's arms are supplied (kept) by it's members (the people), not kept in government armories.